A good olive harvest net is the difference between clean, whole fruit and a season of bent-over picking, bruising and hand-sorting grit out of the mill. Get the laying and collecting right and the net does the work.
A olive harvest net is the difference between clean, whole fruit and a season of bent-over picking, bruising and hand-sorting grit out of the mill. Laid right, a net catches every olive the moment it falls; laid wrong, it lets fruit roll into the weeds or get lifted off the row by the first gust. Here is the laying, anchoring and collection method we give every grower.
Lay the net before you start knocking olives off the tree, not after the first fruit hits the ground. Depending on your region and the oil profile you want, harvest runs roughly October to February — earlier for green, early-harvest oil, later for ripe, higher-yield fruit. Pick too early and the olives stay stubbornly attached; leave it too late and fruit has already dropped and begun to spoil.
Two ways to work: either lay the nets and do one concentrated pick — hand-pick, comb or shake and collect the same day — or lay them and let olives fall naturally over several weeks, skimming the collected fruit two or three times through the season. The second suits hobby groves and older trees; the first gives cleaner, higher-quality oil.
The mistake every beginner makes is laying a small net around the trunk. Olives fall at the drip line — the outer edge of the canopy where the branches reach furthest — and a net that ends short of it sends half your crop into the grass. Lay the net so it extends past the drip line on every side, and overlap the trunk area where a large share of fruit falls.
For a big tree, use two nets overlapped (a common working size is a pair of 10 m × 5 m nets, one each side of the trunk) rather than one enormous sheet that is impossible to move. Before laying, rake the ground clear of stones and debris — a smooth base makes the net easier to fold and stops fruit from hiding in hollows.
Flat laying is the simplest and lets you walk over the net as you work, but it means bending down to gather every olive. Raised corners — tying the net’s corners up to stakes or the tree trunk so the sides angle inward — make olives roll toward the middle, which saves your back and speeds up collection.
On sloping ground, combine the two: lift and tie the downhill corners so olives roll up into the net instead of out of it. Leave the uphill side low to catch everything that tumbles.
A loose olive net is a sail. One strong gust lifts an unweighted edge and either folds the net over itself or tips a full day’s harvest onto the ground. Anchor every corner with a stake, a rock tied into the mesh, or a tent peg, and add extra weights along the windward edge if your grove is exposed.
Once the olives are down, gather the corners and lift so the fruit rolls into one pile near the centre or one edge — never scoop handfuls out of a flat net, which is slow and drops fruit. With a large net it helps to have two or three people: two lift and tilt while a third holds a crate underneath and lets the olives roll in.
As you transfer, pick out leaves and twigs — too much green debris degrades oil quality and can clog a mill. Move the fruit into breathable crates or sacks, never sealed plastic bags, and get them to the press within a day or two for the cleanest oil.
| Tree canopy spread | Net size to order |
|---|---|
| Up to 3 m | 5 × 5 m |
| 4–6 m | 8 × 8 m |
| 6–8 m + | Two 10 × 5 m nets, overlapped |
The mesh should be fine enough to hold an olive — typically a 5–10 mm opening — but open enough to shed leaves, twigs and rainwater rather than collecting them. Our knitted HDPE olive net is light, rot-resistant and built to be dragged and folded season after season without tearing.
Shake the net free of leaves and twigs, let it dry before folding, and store it in a cool, dry place out of direct sun. HDPE shrugs off rot and mildew, so a well-kept net lasts multiple seasons — the care you take at the end of one harvest is what the next harvest starts from.
Not sure what size fits your trees? Tell us your tree count and canopy spread and we will spec the right net size and mesh for your grove.
Related: read our olive netting GSM and mesh and olive net sizes.
Before you start picking — for most regions that means between October and February, timed to the ripeness and oil style you want. Laying after fruit has fallen means you are already losing crop.
Yes, and more importantly it must extend past the drip line on every side. Olives fall at the outer canopy edge, and a net that ends short of it misses a large share of the crop.
Anchor every corner with a stake, a rock tied into the mesh or a peg, and add extra weights on the windward edge in exposed groves.
Yes, when it is laid flat. If you raise and tie the corners instead, the olives roll to the middle and you save yourself the bending.
Lay the net before you pick, cover past the drip line, anchor every corner against the wind, and fold — not scoop — to move the fruit. Tell us your grove and we will size the right olive harvest net for it.
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